An ICO review, 6 years later

I had appropriated myself a copy of ICO about a year after buying my Playstation2 (2004). Buying it off ebay was hard at the time, but, as usual, EBgames just happened to have a copy for $17.99. Like Rez, ICO is one of these games that made the Playstation shine in a dark corner of the library, and I'm unsure if this game was only played by a small niche of people who love their games. It was definitely created by people who do.

It's like that with me and Internet: I have trouble gauging things in the game industry because it's a house-made-of-hype, and I really don't think that all gamers bother with posting/reviewing games.. they just play games which I agree is enough (probably another mis-gauge on my part as well).

For those of you who haven't played or watched any kind of vids, ICO is a platform puzzle game, whose shining feature is its simplicity in design. At many points during this game, I found myself thinking that this could have been done so wrong, and that a few aspects that make up the core of the gameplay would be considered daunting by most game designers, a bit of a tightrope on the programming side. The game is executed flawlessly.

The best way that I can describe the core principle of game would be Abe's Odyssey meets The Lost Vikings: everyone needs to make it to the exit safely using their set of skills, and they've got to be lead there, literally, by the hand. Yup, the R1 button's function is "Hold Hands".

Without giving away too much of the meager and effective plot, your main character has the ability to attack, jump, climb, push/pull and ignite bombs. The combat is VERY straightforward, so straightforward in fact that it does not require a life gauge: like most of the game, it is instinct based. The second character, Yorda the NPC, is the only one that can open the door at the end of each puzzle. She can't jump, won't take suicidal dives off cliffs, and won't climb ropes. Yorda, by the way, is a delicate character who breathes life into the game with her delicate movements and flowing white dress. She is a ghostly, almost sickly girl whose identity will not be revealed to you until the end of the game, again, without words.

About those programming tightropes. Now, we all know the dangers of a "follow/escort" mission. Too many times have we been plagued with characters who get lost following you, or can be found weeping in a corner mimicking fried bacon in hopes that you'll soon notice that they are no longer following. Yorda is autonomous in her dependencies, and cuts every corner with her signature uncertain manner. She gets afraid when loud noises occur, and will wait ever patiently for you to open the way, or extend your helping hand. Speaking of which..

The physical interaction between both of the characters will leave you stunned at first, especially due to the fact that you can feel her footsteps and elbow through the rumble pack. In your rush to outrun the enemies, you will sometimes find yourself somewhat concerned that you are being a bit brisk. It's that good.

My secondary reason for playing this game at this particular point in time, is that I wanted to see how well this team deals with controls. Because if I'm going to have trouble scaling walls and shimmying across pipelines, I doubt that I would fare well clinging on to the body hair of a giant beast looking for stab-spots in Shadow of the Colossus. As far as the controls go, the game never really betrays you, unless you insist on grabbing onto a ledge that is not part of the solution to the puzzle, which you'll deserve the frustrating plummet into renderworld.

It's the most fun I've had climbing since the initial Prince of Persia by Broderbund and Mechner. At times, I found it hard to believe that this game was made in 2001. Should I hold it side by side to a few early PS2 titles, I would understand why so many games have been scolded, and am further willing to scold some titles myself after having played this. Still, I'll always make sure to try the lesser games before the shining stars, it just helps keep a library bigger.

The scarcity to near absence of dialog is fantastic, as the characters barely exchange words. It heightens the visual value of the main characters. There's no pausing for lunch and crying over how we're gonna make it out of here. You speak with actions, and despite the long silence that is ICO, it is in this silent trek that the bond between the two undoubtedly grows in the eyes of the player. It would have been HORRIBLE, if Yorda only opened her mouth to say stupid things like "Hey, wait for me!", or if the main character said things like "I can't leave here without Yorda.

The last time I've seen this silent bond happen was in Another World/Out of this World, you need only to think back to that story to understand what I'm talking about here. I also would go as far as saying that Another World has surely inspired this game, and that this game has been influential in the level design theory of God of War. You go from wondering where it is you are, to truly understanding the architecture of the Fortress/Castle without the aid of a map, and that's just strong. You won't make it very far in the game without using the free-look command. If you don't look around to analyze the structure of the room and the architecture, you could actually be led to believe that some designer screwed up, and that you're in a dead end.

Seen this mechanism somewhere? [VIDEO, AVI]

ICO is visually stunning. I'm sure it would be hard to get how an early PS2 game could be considered as stunning. No lens flares here. When you look up and stare at the sun, that is exactly what you'll see, and I don't mean a glowing yellow dot. I had to bust out my equally old FinePix for the occasion:

ICO sun effects [VIDEO, AVI]

What a horrible video.

Yes. It is a short game, depending on how well you do with puzzles. Nonetheless, this is definitely a must own for those who like a good brain wracking, with a story very well worthy of being told. I finished the game in around 8 hours, angry pacing in my apartment not included.

I also picked up Shadow of the Colossus to celebrate ICO's completion. That's the beauty of retrogaming, or "neutrogaming". It's like owning all the seasons of The Sopranos or 24 all at once. Where other people have waited weeks, in this case YEARS to see what happens next, I had to wait only a drive to the store to get into Colossus. Yes, I understand, "Shadow of the Colossus is not the sequel to ICO". We'll save that for the SoTC blog.

Should YOU play ICO? Definitely. Especially since it's such a short gem to play through. I've often recommended games of incredible magnitude to people, such as Xenosaga, and I feel kinda bad cause the entire series requires 200 hours of real-time. But ICO is a definite must, you'll feel good just saying "I played it", even if it means saying it to yourself in the mirror whilst shaving.